A Day at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival

The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival seems to get bigger and bigger each year.  This can be quite intimidating!  Today's blog is to show you that you can get a great taste for the festival in just one day in Epcot and still enjoy other aspects of the park as well.  It will be extremely challenging to try every single booth in one day, so we highly recommend grabbing a Festival Guide when you get to the park and looking over the menus.  See what sounds good to you, and plan to hit those booths and not just the first ones you see.  Lines will build throughout the day for the food booths, so consider that when you make your plans. 

Full disclosure, we didn't even get to the park until about 3pm and we aren't big on rides.  But we had a leisurely day and had a ton of fun!  It was a perfect Florida day with blue skies and fluffy clouds.  

We were lucky enough to get a Virtual Queue for Guardians of The Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, so we headed that way first.  We absolutely loved this ride and it really got us into the Epcot spirit.  Nearby were two of my favorite festival booths, Mac and Eats and Flavors from Fire, so it was time to start our snacking adventure!  Since both of these booths featured items from Emile's Fromage Montage, we figured today would be a great day to try to tackle all things cheesy as well.  

We opted for the Cowboy Mac and Cheese and the Cast Members working were a hoot and made a big deal about the order.  This was a delicious way to start the day but those pickled peppers definitely packed a little kick.  The red wine paired nicely with the meat and heat.

Cowboy Macaroni & Cheese with smoked pork belly, brisket burnt ends, pickled peppers, onion straws, and barbecue aïoli 

Next up we popped right next door for Flavors of Fire where we couldn't decide so ended up with two items from the menu!  The Smoked Corned Beef was a favorite from years past and also on the Fromage Montage so of course we had to give it a go, but we are bao bun fans so gave that a try as well!  While it was great to try to something new to the festival this year, the Smoked Corned Beef was the clear winner here. 

Smoked Corned Beef with crispy potatoes, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer-cheese fondue

Banh Mi Bao with char-grilled Asian skirt steak, chicken liver aïoli, pickled vegetables, and cilantro

We stopped into the store and browsed the 40th anniversary merchandise.  There was a lot of cute things this year but we just grabbed a pin and headed out.  As an Annual Passholder, there was a specialty beverage available at the Joffrey's stops, so we of course had to give that a try! This was refreshing, delicious and quite strong. 

As we made our way towards World Showcase, we stopped at another fan favorite festival booth, Hawai'i, but stuck to something sweet on the fromage montage this time (although the savory items here are always a hit!)  The Aulani Sunrise was refreshing but the cheesecake left us wanting more flavor.  It just missed the mark for us. 

AULANI Sunrise: Vodka, DOLE pineapple juice, and grenadine & Passion Fruit Cheesecake with toasted macadamia nuts

At this point we decided to take a little break from the sun in the Mexico Pavilion.  We were able to snag a reservation for the San Angel Inn and enjoyed some drinks and shared some appetizers to take a rest and recharge. 

Tostadas de Pollo

Margarita Flight

As the sun set, it remained a picture-perfect Florida day.  The break from the heat of the sun was very welcomed. 

We had heard great things about the Griddled Cheese from Greece and it was on our fromage montage, so we had to give it a try.  WOW. We loved this!  It sounds so simple but it was just so tasty.  This felt like the perfect Food and Wine Festival bite since it isn't something we'd normally have at home.

Griddled Cheese with pistachios and honey 

As we were quite full at this point, we just opted for a wine flight in Spain and skipped the food choices here. None had us wanting to go back for more, but trying new wines is always time well spent!

At this point, we were ready to redeem our treat for completing the Fromage Montage. This item comes in a plastic souvenir cup filled with soft serve, strawberry sauce, and cheesecake bites. It's a refreshing end to a tasty scavenger hunt, but worth noting is that it's a similar treat for each festival.

As the night wound down we found a spot to enjoy Harmonious. There are great views all around the lagoon but you will see people camping out relatively early.  We waited about 45 minutes and found a spot we could actually remain seated on the ground to watch the show which was delightful after a long day.

 

Maci Schau

Maci is an avid foodie and loves trying out new restaurants and seasonal food offerings in the parks.  You can email Maci at maci@kingdomkonsultant.com.